We’re enjoying fabulous fall weather here in Spokane–crisply cool and sunny. We actually harvested a watermelon yesterday; quite tasty. Still have tomatoes, too, and you know how I love them if you’ve been reading this blog for longer than five minutes. :)The dahlias were simply dazzling this year, and I’m glad to say many of them are still blooming. Talk about color! Peonies are still my favorites, and I do love my roses, but I’ve got a lasting crush on dahlias, and that’s for sure. When it comes to art, nobody beats God’s handiwork!

Mornings, I love to watch the little birds come to light on my small statue of St. Francis. He holds a bowl in his hands, which I keep full of seed, and sometimes there’s quite a show. The other day, for instance, a fat, sleek squirrel climbed up to the bowl and planted himself in the middle, temporarily driving away two birds. The little guys were persistent, though; they soon regrouped and chased the squirrel off!

While I’m on the subject of critters, I’ll tell you about our visiting dog. We call her Cherry Pie, since she stole the handyman’s much-anticipated dessert one day, out in the shop. She’s some kind of pointer and belongs to the neighbors, though we don’t know which ones. She travels from house to house, and has friends all over the country side. She often visits, curling up on a dogbed I keep in the kitchen for canine callers, and snoring away companionably. She makes as all laugh–she’s always so excited to see us and so sure of a rousing welcome. Which, of course, she always gets.

The horses are going into their stalls at night now. During the summer, they prefer to live outside and pretend they’re wild mustangs.

We lost about all of our garden things this year do to much rain. I have become a parent of a kitten, my son wanted to keep. We had a feral cat have kittens here and we have been trying to find homes for them, I guess we ended up with one of them.

I am like you , about the animals! Love them so much! I love mayo and tomato sandwiches! My stomach only will take them for so long, before the acid kicks in! Still have some and giving them away to people who are unable to grow their own. Thank you for much loved reading. Also thank you for your blogs! Waiting for another of your Great books!

Isn’t it the truth, the older I get the faster time goes by. Can’t believe it’s middle of October. I just picked all the tomatoes off the plants we are suppose to get a freeze this weekend ,so I put the tomatoes in brown bag in closet they will be ripe in a few days. Linda it sounds like you are enjoying being back home. Hope you have a great weekend !

I figure I’ve got one to two more weeks to get Jersey tomatoes from the local farm stand – love those!
I’ve got a groundhog that’s been munching in the backyard every day getting ready for the winter – that thing can really move when it gets spooked!

Your weather sounds perfect – like what we’re having in southern Kentucky. We have a dog that used to make the rounds of the neighbors each morning. They each gave her some kind of treat and special attention. She 15+ years old now and doesn’t get very far from the porch, preferring to sleep on her pallet. Cherry Pie would be a good character in one of your books. Many of your strong male characters seem to have soft spots for taking in strays of all kinds.

I love your stories about life where you live. How many horses do you have? They are God’s perfect creations. I love flowers too, but was blessed with a black thumb!! I know it must feel good to be home again.

This is a story that happened to me not so long ago. There was a widely advertised exhibition in the picture gallery of our city. My friends and I decided to see it. We were wandering through the halls for a long time gazing at the pictures, stopping from time to time to discuss this or that artist’s work. My friends had already moved to the next hall and I stopped for a while viewing one beautiful landscape, but when I headed to the next hall I heard a voice, the voice seemed to say: “Come here”. I turned back: there was no one in the hall. I returned and slowly started walking round the pictures again. There was a picture in the corner that caught my attraction, a girl sitting on a bench in the park holding a book as her eyes followed a man passing by. There was something familiar about the girl and about the situation depicted in the picture. The suit that the man was wearing seemed familiar, I had had the same five years ago, I looked at the girl once again, her look, her pretty face, yes, it was five years ago, I remembered. I had been walking through the park, a pretty girl sitting on a bench reading a book had caught my attention, an artist had been standing in front of her painting her. Our eyes had met, she had smiled at me and the sparks had flown between us. I had returned to the park later hoping to meet her again, but it had never happened. My feelings returned and only my friends, who asked, what I was doing there, brought me back to reality. They looked at the picture and agreed that I was the passer-by, they also paid a compliment to the girl and I told them our story. So they offered their help in trying to find her. We started with the painter, his surname was written on the painting and we asked the gallery management where we could find him. In the evening my friends and I were sitting in a café discussing the search plan, I kept thinking about the girl and the way we had met again in such an unusual way. That was a sign for me, I wanted to meet her as soon as possible. Next day we went to the painter’s atelier, he listened to us and said that the girl on the painting was his friends’ daughter and was currently working in the picture gallery of Prague, her name was Vera, he gave us her address and wished good luck. A week later there I was in Prague at the entrance to the picture gallery with a bunch of flowers and a gift wrapped painting. I opened the entrance door, went through a long corridor and came to the gallery management office. My heart was beating really hard, I took a deep breath, opened the door and entered the office.
Vera was sitting at a table. She glanced up at me, and we kept silent for several seconds. I couldn’t say a word, just offered the flowers, unpacked the picture and gave it to her. She looked at the picture and at me, smiled and finally said: “At last you found me, I’ve been waiting for you all these five years after that evening in the park”.
Who said the pictures can’t talk? They don’t talk, they give us the signs, but we’ve got to look carefully and then they’ll reveal to us many aspects of our lives…

It seems this gentleman writes short stories in his spare time and wanted you to review one of them. He lives in the Netherlands presently (which is why I can loosely translate what he said, since I’m Dutch by birth), but he appears to be Russian by birth. He seems to think you speak Dutch. He says if you are “a little bit” interested in his stories, to please contact him. He will be extremely thankful for your input.

Sounds wonderful. I love the animals that came over for a visit. We had a neighbor dog who came over every day when we arrived home from work. We lived on a small lake north of Seattle, and in the summer time the dog would take a swim then come up for a visit. I spent more money on dog food for our visitor than I did on our own cat and dog combined. Wonderful memories, and I still miss that dog. But, he lived a long and well loved life.

I too, love dahlias and peonies, and you are so fortunate to have them in your garden as well as tomatoes and watermelon! The story of Cherry Pie is so cute too! He sounds like such a friendly social soul. Thank you for sharing a bit of your daily life with us!

Did not see any men in the above responds to you, so here is one. I am 88 years young and a voracious reader since I was 5 years old when my Aunt Margaret {a school teacher} taught me to read. I just finished reading Christmas in Mustang Creek. I enjoyed it very much. I will look for your books at the Library. Brought back memories of my youth growing up on the farm. Thank you